Colleagues share a light moment in the workplace. Researchers say that when employees feel that management feedback is geared towards offering them support, it increases their commitment in the workplace. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Firms that regularly assess their staff and give honest feedback have low employee turnover and their bottom lines are all the better for it.
Fifty-eight per cent of employed Kenyans regard performance reviews as a key engagement factor that helps in boosting their productivity at the workplace, according to the latest Careers in Africa Employer of Choice Study by the Global Career Company.
Kenyan companies can, therefore, benefit if they are incorporated regularly as they serve as a motivation tool and a strategy in employee retention
“The penny seems to have dropped that employees are demanding a customer-style experience from their workplaces, so it will be interesting to see how the delivery of benefits, performance of line management and the fundamentals of work, like where, when and how work is done, continue to evolve,” reported Careers in Africa.
The study featured more than 20,000 participants in the continent who answered approximately 50 questions, giving their opinions on what makes a good employer, what they like about their current employers, how they feel about their current role and their employment conditions.
From this, Global Career Company was able to determine which employers are well regarded and what employees are looking for in their job searches.
In Kenya, performance reviews were regarded as top priority by employees, in Ghana, the key engagement factor by 59 per cent was their company provided access to training, in South Africa, 44 per cent said it was employers who listened to their needs and in Uganda 50 per cent said it was sincere senior leadership interest in their well-being.
For performance reviews, they offer an open discussion between the top management and employees, which allows them to deal with some of the factors that could be hindering their performance therefore when implemented, the employees feel valued. It also builds the relationship between them hence they are motivated to be more productive.
In fact, research published in the International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations finds that employees’ perception of performance review impacts an organisation in performance, commitment and turnover.
“When employees feel that management feedback is geared towards offering them support, it increases their commitment in the workplace. Feedback is one of the most important factors affecting their performance and when given through reviews it positively impacts their performance,” read the research.
Besides offering employees pointers, the bottom-up feedback from employees often gathered through the engagement process, helps managers see their own weaknesses and improves their own performance. This, in turn, makes the performance management process more developmental for both leaders and their teams.
The positive impact of these performance reviews have led some top companies to incorporate them regularly; from annually to every day or in a need-to-basis.
US multinational computer software company Adobe employed this strategy successfully to increase employee retention.
In 2012, it introduced a performance management system, which gave employees regular feedback in place of annual performance reviews. The company incorporated check-ins that would allow employees and top management to carry on discussions and offer instant feedback on work done immediately when posted. This led to a 30 per cent reduction in voluntary turnover in the company.
In a case study of the Adobe performance reviews by Deloitte, it found that the company’s top management was focusing on three major areas: increasing the organisation’s comfort with the programme, reinforcing the need for check-ins, and integrating the approach into other areas of talent management to increase productivity.
“Adobe discovered that it struggled with growth discussions, as they could not provide all the answers for staff in guiding them around promotional opportunities. The company, therefore, developed a series of resources that focused on mentoring and growth to prepare the managers to offer the guidance to the employees while at the same time also coaching themselves thereby driving growth in the company as well,” reported Deloitte.
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